Barriers to Partnership Working

What are the barriers to good partnership working?

Families may have had different experiences of support from a range of  professionals, varying from extremely positive and supportive to poor quality and difficult to manage. Families who have contacted the CBF report:

• Having to fight to access services
• Being excluded from what is available, e.g. short break services
• Services being inflexible to needs of families
• A crisis management approach
• Ineffective support for people with challenging behaviour
• Being labeled as obstructive when they question professional opinion

These factors can leave families feeling unsupported and can have a profound impact on the family’s quality of life and feelings of isolation. Being aware of the difficulties that families experience when trying to access support is key to empathising with their circumstances and making adjustments to the way you work.

Of course for professionals there are many factors that may create barriers to working well with families, including:

• Limited resources
• Heavy caseloads
• Lack of appropriate local services
• Time constraints
• Mistrust from families
• Limited access to training

Family carers may not appreciate how little time you have to dedicate to each individual or family you work with and they may not be aware of the challenges and competing demands you face in your job.